164 
NATURE’S CRAFTSMEN 
inside, with only its head above the ramparts, its 
diamond-bright eyes watching steadily, its legs 
all gathered for a spring. And the little hunter 
is a monument of patience; often it must hold this 
ready attitude for hours and hours at a stretch. 
For it must wait the accommodation of chance; 
there is nothing about the turret to tempt a vis¬ 
itor, unless, perchance, it may offer an inviting 
ledge on which to rest for a few moments. Sooner 
or later, however, a dragon-fly, a grasshopper, or 
some other delectable tidbit passes that way; 
then, presto! the watcher darts from the tower 
with amazing swiftness, and ere the unsuspect¬ 
ing one can think either of flight or defense, a 
quick thrust in the neck ends its career. 
“No full-grown JLycosa ever springs for a vic¬ 
tim that is beyond its reach. It scorns to chase 
its prey, and it always avoids an unseemly squab¬ 
ble. Well enough it knows that unless it can kill 
at the first thrust, it is quite likely to be worsted 
in the fray. In youth, however, affairs are dif¬ 
ferent. Before reaching a marriageable age, the 
spiderlings roam about like the miniature wolves 
that they are. When any suitable game appears 
they are after it hot-foot. And foiled indeed is 
the wary fly or midge that attempts to escape by 
flight. For before it can so much as rise, the 
acrobatic young spiderling leaps into the air and 
catches it quicker than a wink. Indeed, no cat 
